Crazytown

TOP TEN FILMS OF 2016: DAVILA'S LIST

I cried during at least seven movies in 2016...

by David Davila (some dude that loves movies)

There were seven different times when I saw a movie in 2016 and thought "Damn that's gonna win best picture!" Seven different times! There were also seven different times that I cried in the movie theatre like a little baby. Those two sets of seven have some overlap, and with that in mind it was pretty hard for me to put these wonderful movies in any kind of "best of" order this year. Sooooo for the first time EVER... I'm not putting them in order... 

WATCH THESE MOVIES... CAUSE THEY'RE THE BEST OF 2016:

La La Land: Here's to the dreamers who dream. The story of "the one that got away" is one that hits very close to home to me, as does the inevitable question of "when is it time to give up on your dreams?" Those themes are strong in La La Land, as is the set design, cinematography, story-telling, and marvelous performances. In the final scene when fantasy and reality finally come face to face... I sobbed uncontrollably. I cried even more the second time. Bravo! La La Land is a masterpiece that will be celebrated for the next hundred years. 

Moonlight: I've never seen a movie like Moonlight in my life. Something so specific, yet so true to real life that everyone can identify with it. A three part story that examines a man in three very pivotal moments that changed the course of his life, Moonlight succeeds where many stories fail, in the honesty of life's unexpected moments.

20th Century Women: A fifty-five year old woman must contemplate what it means to be a man in order to save her son from himself. The take away being that there are a lot of feeling that a man will feel during this life, and strength is what it takes to endure those feelings. I was bawling as the credits rolled. This is the only movie I was rooting for for Best Picture that did not get a nomination unfortunately. It deserved one, and both Annette Bening and Greta Gerwig were snubbed as well! 

Manchester by the Sea: A reclusive, and easily agitated man must return to his hometown to take care of his nephew when his brother dies. It's terribly sad... and that's just the first ten minutes. Would you believe me if I said that it gets worse and worse and worse from there? This is the saddest movie I've seen in probably twenty years and I cried for a good third of the movie and spent a week in a deep depression afterwards. The celebrated playwright, Kenneth Lonergan uses film to go to places that the theatre does not allow him to go. It's astonishing, breath-taking, and tragic.

Arrival: If you knew how your life would end would you live it anyway? The "If/Then" question at the center of this sci-fi art-house hybrid is one that we all ponder in our lives. Amy Adams is remarkable, as is everything about this film, from beginning to end and back again. Yes... I cried like a baby... again.

Hell or High Water: Two brothers decide to rob some small town banks in the ultimate act of revenge imaginable. This is as much a movie about West Texas small town life after big corporations sucked the money out of main street, as it is about what it takes to join the predator class and get rich in America. 

Hidden Figures: A wonderful, feel-good, female-empowering true story about the women who helped get a man into outer space. I laughed, I cried, and I cheered! This is a movie we'll be watching over and over every time it plays on cable for the rest of our lives.

Sing Street: If you wanna do something in life just do it. That's the idea behind this Irish film in the great tradition of Once and The Commitments, this movie takes a bunch of low-down underdogs and turns them into rock gods! 

Birth of a Nation: A retelling of the historic slave uprising of Nate Turner and company. The movie succeeds at drawing direct comparisons to current trends in police brutality that make one realize that the time of slavery is not as far away as one would like to imagine. Of course I cried in this one too. 

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The only blockbuster on my list, Fantastic Beasts took me on a journey that I did not expect. What a wonderful movie about saving the planet and stopping hatred. This is the type of movie we all need in our lives right now. Furthermore, this screenplay was written by J.K. Rowling herself, which makes me wish the studios had let her write all of the previous films. 

THIS COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED ON #ALTERNATIVEFACTS

Rewriting history has long been a part of Imperialism and Colonialism...

by David Davila (Gay Latino)

"History is decided by the Victors."

Winston Churchill is credited with saying that, but he didn't come up with it. There are dozens of other people credited with saying similar phrases throughout History and so it is the perfect example of it's own meaning. None of us can know the things that came before us except through written documents, shared stories & myths, and scientific evidence. So it has always been that we believe what we are taught. So it seemed like the perfect time to review some of the #AlternativeFacts that every American has been taught in school.

Alternative Fact: Christopher Columbus discovered America.
Long before Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas, North and South America were inhabited by thousands of nations made up of Native people. These nations had been producing agriculture and trading amongst each other for centuries. Out of those thousands of Nations, descendants of only 562 of them survive today. 

Alternative Fact: Native Americans died of diseases. There was no intentional genocide.
Yes, many Native Americans died from diseases that were brought over from Europe that they had no immunities to such as small pox. Still, there are documented instances where some of these diseases were spread purposefully as an act of biological warfare through the distribution of infected blankets. Even beyond that however we have no way to know the amount of villages that were completely wiped out by colonizers who were encouraged to end the Indian race by any means. Yet, perhaps the greatest documented act of genocide was committed by the sixth president, Andrew Jackson, a populist who is now regarded by many as the American Hitler. His many deals with the Indian Nations eventually led to the Trail of Tears, a genocidal required relocation of all Native people across the entire country to Indian reservations. Most Natives did not survive. Even as late as the 1970's Native children were being taken from their parents - an act that the UN defines as genocide.

Alternative Fact: The electoral college exists to protect us from tyranny.
Many politicians at the time saw the electoral college as the only way to protect the country from the uneducated masses with no knowledge of the candidates from across the country. The creation of a two party system should have done away with that fear, however politicians in the South argued that their votes deserved to count more because of the slaves they owned.  The electoral college gave slave owners credit for their slaves and allowed the genocidal practices of slavery to remain in use for another hundred years. 

Alternative Fact: Slavery was completely abolished with the 13th amendment.
The thirteenth amendment stated that slavery was no longer legal except as a form of punishment. When the amendment passed it wasn't long before hundreds of thousands of former slaves were arrested and forced into manual labor to "rebuild the South" after the Civil War. This has turned into a billion dollar prison industry which incarcerates mostly people of color.

Alternative Fact: In America everyone is free.
Approximately 1 percent of the US population are incarcerated under a system that profits off of their imprisonment. These men and women are forced into labor without pay or with very little pay while the billion dollar industry continues to thrive.

Alternative Fact: In America everyone is equal.
Where to begin? Women only make 80 cents to every man's dollar for the same work done. LGBTQ people can still be fired in 29 states, while trans people are being discriminated against in restrooms. Some states have laws that require people with brown skin to carry around their 'papers' at all times to prove that they are citizens. People of color are oppressed by systematic racism that is imbedded into many of the policies of our government. People of color are not allowed to militarize as promised in the second amendment. Americans of white descent are encouraged to buy guns, but people of color are often murdered by police officers or painted as criminals when they are found to have a gun. 

I'm not a historian. I'm not a legal expert. I'm not an expert on anything really except dramaturgy and music. These are my observances as a concerned citizen. Alternative Facts are dangerous, and that is not an alternative fact.

I was lucky enough, growing up in South Texas along the Mexico border, to have amazing teachers throughout my public school education who made it a point to ensure that all of their students understood that the United States was built on Alternative Facts. We were encouraged to dig deeper and not believe what we were told. I am forever grateful to those brave social studies and history teachers who were in fact committing acts of civil disobedience by teaching us that "facts" in books could be lies. Thank you for your service! 

DAVID DAVILA is a playwright/composer from South Texas who grew up along the Texas-Mexico border. He is the co-author of MANUEL VS THE STATUE OF LIBERTY an award winning musical comedy about immigration, and VOX POP a musical about the tragedy of democracy. He has long been working on a series of plays about life along the Texas/Mexico border which include ADAN Y JULIO, ABUELAS OR THE POVERTY CYCLE, MEN OF GOD, CREDO, REQUERDOS OF MY LIFE, and AZTEC PIRATES AND THE INSIGNIFICANCE OF LIFE ON MARS. He is a self proclaimed Voxist, a Diva enthusiast, and founder of Lone Star Theatre Co. Wanna talk about it? www.daviddavila.net
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BOYCOTTING THE INAUGURATION

People are criticizing our choice not to watch... we don't care.

by David Davila (Gay Latino Feminist)

Today is the inauguration of the forty-fifth president of the United States of America. A man who has been accused of pedophilia, sexual assault, treason, and fraud, and whose main platform for office was his success as a businessman - yet he has filed for bankruptcy six times. I will not be watching the celebrations.

It's as simple as that. 

I wish there were more to say on the subject. 

Oh... wait there is sooooo much to say on the subject. Somehow people assume that by not watching the inauguration, or by criticizing the alleged pedophile, and trying to hold him accountable for his actions that I somehow want my country to fail. WRONG! That is wrong. It is because I care dearly for my country that I have been so vocal about my distrust for the alleged pedophile. I will not celebrate the fact that a candidate won the highest office in the country on a campaign of hate that is anti-immigrant, anti-muslim, anti-female, and anti-gay. I will not celebrate but instead I will scream from the roof tops until those blind followers see that he does not have their interests at heart. 

Still, I do want my country to succeed. I hope that I am wrong about the alleged pedophile but I am ninety-nine percent certain that I'm not. 

I hope... but I do not turn a blind eye. 

Instead, I DVR ten hours worth of Animal Planet, and drink a hot cup of coffee from my amazing new "disappearing civil liberties mug." 

Amen.

(Just pour in the coffee and watch your rights disappear.) 

THE END OF AN ERA

Most people can't wait for 2016 to be over... but I'm not sure I'm ready to let it go.

by David Davila (human)

For most people on my Facebook feed, 2016 has been a terrible year. In all honesty, aside from the possible end of Democracy, the genocide in Syria, the racism in the US, and the many celebrity deaths, 2016 wasn't terrible for me by any means. (Stop me now if that sounds incredibly self-centered and naive.)

I premiered a new song cycle, THE MAGIC TIME MACHINE in concert at the Beechman in January. I got to see my musical MANUEL VS THE STATUE OF LIBERTY performed at Princeton University in February. I got to spend most of the year with a fella who I am in love with. I had the best summer of my entire life traveling to South Padre Island with family, Fire Island and Atlantic City with my boo, and Maine with a bunch of talented crazy artists! I wrote a new pilot, a new play, a new web series! I met a whole bunch of amazing actors, directors, collaborators who I got to work with many times through my theatre company Lone Star Theatre, and at The Playground Experiment, and Feast, and BarnArts! I went to Las Vegas and saw Britney and Mariah! I got to see the opening of a brand new museum for the history of African American people in Washington DC! I saw many amazing Broadway musicals, witnessed countless live performances by brilliant musicians, binge-watched endless amounts of fantastic television, saw at least ten movies that blew me away, and read several amazing books that had me in tears! I cooked my first Thanksgiving Turkey, and spent Christmas with my brand new nephew Andrew Joseph Davila down in South Texas!!!! 

My year was alright! 

Yes. I'm devastated still that 2017 could bring the end of democracy or a deadly third world war littered with nuclear explosions, but I am going to remain optimistic that this year I will continue to follow my dreams. I will continue to write, I will produce some of my own work, I will start a new career, and I will for sure travel through Europe because I have already bought my tickets!!!

So though it is scary and bitter-sweet to say goodbye to the Obama era, a wonderful age where the hope of equality was enough to get (most of) us through the reality of the hard times the US was experiencing, I do so now with more hope. Hope that the future ahead of us will bring exciting changes that we will meet with open arms and minds. 

2017, whether you bring torment or bliss I am ready for you!

WHO'S EXCITED ABOUT JAKE GYLLENHAAL IN SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE?!?

Oh it's happening... this is not a drill...

by David Davila (Sondheim obsessed Gyllenaal fan)

We may be going down a dark hole as a country and heading toward the end of democracy, but at least we'll get to see Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford in a new production of Sondheim's SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. 

Now you may be saying, "Didn't we just get a revival of that a few years ago?"

Sure. Yeah. It was 2008 though... and wouldn't we like 2017 to be even just a LITTLE bit like 2008? Just a little? 

I mean even a little?

Oh sure... now you're saying that SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is a problem piece... 

Sure... yeah... the book is... problematic... but the score... THE SCORE... that material!!!

THE SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's Jake singing some of the score:

oh Jake...

:::sigh:::

but also Tony winning actress, and budding Broadway legend, Annaleigh Ashford...

Ughhh his voice is so gorgeous and so is his face! I don't want to wait till February!!! I guess I'll just have to keep watching this clip of him doing Little Shop of Horrors last year!!!! 

Oh Jake... Oh Jake... Jake... Jake... talk to me about how you sing though... 

::::sigh::::

RUPAUL SHOULD DO A "FALLEN STARS" SEASON

Imagine a television show where your least favorite and most likely forgotten Drag Race contestants got a second chance...

by David Davila

It's been a month and we're still talking about Drag Race All Stars 2... It was that good y'all. Sheesh! Between the drama, back-stabbing, alliances, runways, comedy, murderous lip-syncs, and plain ole shenanigans, All Stars 2 delivered some of the best entertainment of my entire life! So obviously we want more of it! Too bad that All Stars doesn't really work that way because we sorta have to wait for more All Stars to arise from the next few seasons. :/

So I have an idea (actually I'm not sure if the idea was mine or my friend Ryan's... we were really drunk). The queens are always talking about how much they've grown after the show, so what if we invited some of the forgotten queens, who were eliminated early, back a second chance to snatch the crown. What if Logo produced RuPaul's Drag Race Fallen Stars?

I've been following a lot of these girls on social media and so many of them have grown immensely since they departed Drag Race. Still... quite a few don't seem to have grown at all. THAT alone would make for great television.

So here are my picks for RuPaul's Drag Race Fallen Stars:

Laila McQueen 

People don't shut up about how amazing Laila McQueen is and I kind of believe them based on her fierce lip sync. She was definitely just not seasoned enough when she came to Drag Race, but that seems to have changed. 

Kelly Mantle 

One of the funniest queens on World of Wonder's youtube channel yet she can't seem to learn how to style her wigs. If she could just learn wigs she would be unstoppable. Her hair looks great in this picture though!!!

Serena ChaCha

She was in way over her head when she raced onto Season 5 and quickly made enemies with the fiercest, most seasoned queens in Drag Race herstory, but Ru was right in seeing potential in her. It's been four years since she sashayed away and has since started her own line of wigs. She may be the biggest threat and my early vote to snatch the fallen crown.

Mystique Summers

No one will ever forget her battle cry "Bitch, I am from Chicago!" The Cubs broke their century old curse so it may be the perfect season for Mystique so make a comeback! Her hair game is on point... but she would need to work on some custom designed outfits.

Sasha Belle

She was pretty basic when she stepped onto the Drag Race stage, but since leaving Sasha Belle has become the nightlife queen of Iowa. Her social media presence seems to indicate a big boost in confidence and the sense that she has embraced a camp sensibility. I think she could go far!

Dax Exclamation Point

Look at huh! She is a fierce queen! Her Comic-Con realness is legit! She would need to work on her high-fashion looks to stand a real chance, but she definitely deserves a shot!

Nicole Paige Brooks

A showgirl who relies on her really, really, really, hot body, she seems to have grown the least since her small time on Drag Race. If she could borrow some lace front wigs though... this show girl could stand a chance!

Phoenix

First of all gurrrl you need a last name to go with Phoenix because you are HARD TO GOOGLE! Sheesh! But isn't she fierce? Wow! She's one of the leading ladies of Atlanta Drag and doing it five nights a week at that. She could definitely rise to the top. 

MiMi Imfurst

Okay... so technically she is already an All-Star because she was on All Stars Season 1... BUT... Let me make a case for MiMi Imfurst as a fallen star. She was sent home wayyy too early on Season 3 of Drag Race and then again on All Stars 1 was not given a fair shot to show what she could do because she was paired up with Pandora Box and sent home in the first episode. Since then she's proven she can do anything with her viral videos, Off-Broadway shows, and National Pageant crowns. I'm sorry but we have just not seen enough of what Mimi Imfurst can do! And I demand a third chance!

and of course...

Porkchop

I mean really... need I say more?

 

THE DRESS CODE: A FEMALE PROBLEM, CREATED BY THE PATRIARCHY?

On the sexualization of teenage girls...

by David Davila

One of the biggest problems of a Trump presidency is that little girls and boys are being taught that girls are sexual objects. I cried when Hillary Clinton lost the presidency not only because I feared a country under the rule of a fascist white supremacist but also because of the message that came with that win: it's okay to sexually assault women. 

Within the context of the next four years I'm torn as to what to tell my four year old niece or any other school age girl for that matter. Should I continue preaching that women should be able to wear whatever they want because they are not owned by men, or should I instead tell them to protect themselves from evil men at all costs including covering up their midriffs? I want to think that I would continue telling them to wear whatever they want. 

When shared that message on facebook before my feed suddenly became an explosion of anger from people I knew in Texas who claimed that I was teaching girls to be sluts, or teaching them to use their sexuality to get ahead in the world. I argued that I was simply teaching them that they were valuable members of society and should not be controlled by men. However I do see the basis for their claims. Many women have used their sexuality to get ahead in this world including our future first lady, Melania Trump. 

Melania Trump's pornographic past is no secret and it is the exact thing that has made her first lady. Still, as millions of people condemn her for her past and the path that she took to the White House, I instead think she is not at fault. She was a woman who took the only thing she had in her power to elevate herself in a world dominated by the patriarchy. For it was in fact the patriarchy who created pornography in the first place. It is predominantly men who spend billions of dollars in pornography annually and it is men who have created a culture that sexualizes women so much that there is an entire illegal industry based on sex trade. 

So instead of "slut shamming" Melania Trump I applaud her for being courageous enough to take power when she saw the opportunity. There are many teenage girls who see the same opportunity in their environments and decide to take it. Many of the girls being sent home from school for baring their midriffs are among these women. Still, I'm not sure I can blame them because as a country we have again proven that a women has more worth as a sex symbol than a strong leader who fought her entire life for the good of the public and for children's rights. 

We have reinforced the myth that a bathing suit is more valuable than a pantsuit. I'm ashamed at everyone that thinks it is better to elect an alleged pedophile and known sexual assailant than an intelligent and experienced female leader. My common sense wants to tell young girls to use their bodies to gain a man of stature, but my heart still needs to tell them that this is not the way. Instead I call on all young women to unite against the patriarchy, to don a pantsuit and rebel. To go full Lysistrata on men in America. Women are half of the country and yet tyranny won the 2016 election. 

Ladies wear whatever you want because it is your choice. If you want to wear a bikini than wear it. If you want to wear a burka than wear it. Just please show up, and please never stop fighting the injustices created by men in power!

NOVEMBER OBSESSION: JAMES NORTON

It's November y'all... time for a new unhealthy obsession to cure you of your Thanksgiving coma...

by David Davila

So I was watching the Presidential debate last October, which was that terrible new reality show on PBS starring Donald Trump, and I fell asleep. That's not the interesting part of this story. I mean... you know the show keeps getting worse... The interesting part was that I woke up hours later and this beautiful man was on my television. This gorgeous strawberry-blonde with a face chiseled by Zeus himself. To top it off he was playing a priest (which is a complicated issue for a Catholic boy like me). I was stunned. I was flabbergasted. I was obsessed.

I had to know more about this gorgeous man. The show on PBS' Masterpiece was called GRANDCHESTER, and the man's name is James Norton. I have a feeling we'll all be hearing that name a lot more. He's my new pic to play James Bond and anything thing else we can possibly get him in. 

Give us more James Norton. Please and thank you.

YUMMMMMMMMM...

THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH DEMOCRACY...

Reflecting on the election of our first fascist president...

by David Davila

The only problem with democracy is that it can be voted away. Those are words I uttered frequently in 2004 when I volunteered for the John Kerry campaign against George W Bush. In 2001 Bush passed the Patriot Act taking away many of the civil liberties Americans enjoyed and people gave them away gladly due to their fear of terrorism. In other words... the terrorists won. Still, I found myself saying it again early Wednesday morning when Donald Trump (an alleged pedophile and admitted sexual assailant) known for his racist, homophobic, xenophobic, and misogynistic candor was elected the 45th president of the United States. 

Hence America voted for it's first fascist president on Tuesday night in a desperate effort to change their governing body somehow. True, our governing body needs fixing. It is controlled by the "campaign contributions" of big corporations and large interest groups. However fascism is hardly the thing that will fix it. Democracy is a fragile thing and it can easily be voted away. It has happened in every democratic society that came before us because people get to vote on matters of the treasury leading to economic collapse. There is a great quote attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself generously out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy."

I don't normally put so many quotes in my blogs but this one seems important, especially when you follow that quote with this famous quote attributed to Henning Webb Prentis: 

"The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy, from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more."

In other words, we just took our first step towards oppression. Knowing these two things it would be safe to assume that our democracy is on its last leg. However, none of those other failed democracies had the checks and balances the US does to keep them from deteriorating. Therefore we have proven that with a the right checks and balances a democracy can last longer than 200 years. 

That's great. 

That's a good sign. 

Still, that doesn't mean that we're not doomed. 

Actually, knowing that we're doomed can save us from our own impending doom, or at least prolong America's life for another two hundred years or more. In the same way that death must exist for us to appreciate life, oppression must exist for us to appreciate liberty. When a nation grows apathetic to it's freedom it's because that generation of people were never oppressed. Perhaps that is why it was the women and people of color who voted predominantly for Clinton - knowing the chains of oppression in their lifetime even if those chains were small and lightly tethered. 

Still I have not given up hope in the United States of America or the idea that democracy can last longer than two hundred years. I believe there are two constitutional amendments that can keep our economy from collapsing, there-in leading to a dictatorship. 

1.) Limit the amount that corporations and interest groups can give to political candidates.
Corporations and large interest groups have given millions of dollars to basically buy votes from political candidates. This has allowed them an immense number of tax loopholes and the ability to have any laws that didn't suit them changed regardless of their affect on the economy or environment. Taking this ability away from them would ensure that our government has the income it needs to keep running and also allows for our economy to continue working in a moderately fair capitalist cycle. 

2.) Limit the control that the government has to change tax laws. If government officials running for office could not dangle promises of tax cuts to the wealthy or the poor they would have to find other ways to ensure their vote. Whether this was a flat rate, or a fixed rate is something I will leave to the economists, but getting rid of the ability to bribe the public would keep the public from committing democratic suicide.

These two proposed amendments may sound ridiculous or far fetched but the constitution was draft and crafted to ensure that this democracy would run for centuries after the forefathers were gone. Its purpose is to ensure that our children and their children always keep their freedoms without having to fight or die to earn them back. Of course convincing Americans and their politicians to ratify laws that will take away their right to bribery is inconceivable. 

Still if the American Dream is real them I will dream of a very near future where we can get the bribes out of Washington DC, and out of the voter ballots so that the United States of America can maintain it's democratic liberties forever!

CAMP CLASSIC WATCH: ZOMBIE PROM THE MOVIE!!!!!

The delicious off-Broadway musical was made into a camp-classic movie that never saw the light of day...

by David Davila (Musical Theatre Writer) 

 

If you're a musical theatre obsessed weirdo like me, then you've loved ZOMBIE PROM the musical for quite some time. I was in a production back in 2007 and boy did we have a blast! It's a hysterical musical about a 1950's high school love affair gone dead; literally. I've always thought it would make a great movie, so you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that they already made it into a movie back in 2007 starring the legendary queen of camp, RuPaul.

It looks like they probably ran out of money during filming because the two and a half hour musical has been in turned into a short thirty-six minute film. Too bad the movie was made back in the days BEFORE Kickstarter and Drag Race. 

Still a short film is better than nothing... or is it just enough to make us long for a full version??? 

I can't decide! At least we have these glorious thirty-six minutes of RuPaul, rotting flesh, and poodle skirts!!!! Someone posted it on Youtube y'all... ENJOY!!!!!